Update: Help Your Baby Build His Immune System

SWAP saliva with him.

The New York Times health blog has the headline,

Sucking Your Child’s Pacifier Clean May Have Benefits

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

"...[babies of] parents [that] sucked on their [baby's] pacifiers to clean them developed fewer allergies than children whose parents typically rinsed or boiled them. They also had lower rates of eczema, fewer signs of asthma and smaller amounts of a type of white blood cell that rises in response to allergies and other disorders."

"The findings add to growing evidence that some degree of exposure to germs at an early age benefits children, and that microbial deprivation might backfire, preventing the immune system from developing a tolerance to trivial threats."

Read more:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/why-dirty-pacifiers-may-be-your-childs-friend/

Once you get past the "ick" factor, (and Mom is adamant that she is not sucking anyone's pacifiers) it is interesting to speculate how mothers fed their infants solid foods in the days before modern food processors and prepackaged baby food. Dad thinks that pioneering mothers of yore would masticate food and share it directly with baby mouth to mouth. It is likely that only because our modern conveniences have so far removed us from the practice through the generations that it today makes us squeamish.

Dad would not be at all surprised to observe a movement in the future by certain mothers to reintroduce the practice on the claim of its immunological benefits. Will they be as obnoxious as the Nurse-In protestors?

Update: But some moms think breastfeeding is incky.

Shanna Moakler: Breastfeeding is 'gross'

Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/07/shanna-moakler-breastfeeding-is-gross/

When it comes to raising their own children, Dad gives wide latitude toward differing opinions on what are the best rearing methods suitable for both parent and child. That is what is great about liberty. Dad and Mom can implement their strategy, Ms. Moakler can pursue hers.

There are some constraints on that liberty. A parent cannot murder, abuse, or neglect their child. Moreover, others cannot impose a uniform rearing method on everyone else. But those are minimal limitations necessary for an ordered, civil society.